[C38] Salon Shelving Options, sprits, sails and nautical trivia of the endless armchair thread

[Steve Smolinske]

When I first read the description it didn't mention it being on a ship
but on shore at gun placements



-----Original Message-----
From: listserve-bounces at catalina38.org
[mailto:listserve-bounces at catalina38.org] On Behalf Of Les
Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2010 10:08 AM
To: Catalina 38 Listserve
Subject: Re: [C38] Salon Shelving Options, sprits, sails and nautical
trivia of the endless armchair thread

Honestly guys,
	You all sail boats that pretty much operate the way a sailing
vessel would in the 1600's.  Can you imagine a tray like that holding
anything?
I mean even our tables have rails, and the discussion here was about
rails higher than the original versions ;-)

	Think about a 24 pound ball rolling across a 50' deck at an
angle of 15 degrees (that is about a 12' drop).  Would you want to be
hit by a ball like that that had dropped 12'?

	And as pointed out in the wikipedia article, gunners used to
have the boys scrub the balls to keep them clean and true.  
	
	The only time I have ever seen cannon balls stacked was near old
land cannon, and only on displays.  Typically the balls for land cannon
were carried in boxes, and on ships by special racks.  The old nautical
phrase, "A place for everything and everything in its place" as well as
the term "Shipshape" applied.  

	I used to give young Electronics Technicians a soldering job on
their first trip out.  Invariably they had the habit of laying the
soldering iron on the work bench when they were doing a job requiring
both hands.
Invariably the ship would roll, the iron would roll off the edge and
they would catch it.  ONCE!!  I never again had to tell  them to keep
things in place and tied down.

Regards,
Les H
On Thu, 2010-12-02 at 12:49 -0500, tdtron at earthlink.net wrote:
> Supposed etymology
> It is often stated that the phrase originated from the use of a brass 
> tray, called a "monkey", to hold cannonballs on warships in the 16th 
> to 18th centuries. Supposedly, in very cold temperatures the "monkey" 
> would contract, causing the balls to fall off.[4] However, nearly all 
> historians and etymologists consider this story to be an urban legend.

> This story has been discredited by the U.S. Department of the Navy,[5]

> etymologist Michael Quinion, and the Oxford English Dictionary 
> (OED).[6]
> 
> They give five main reasons:
> 
>   1.. The OED does not record the term "monkey" or "brass monkey" 
> being used in this way.
>   2.. The purported method of storage of cannonballs ("round shot") is

> simply false. Shot was not stored on deck continuously on the 
> off-chance that the ship might go into battle. Indeed, decks were kept

> as clear as possible.
>   3.. Furthermore, such a method of storage would result in shot 
> rolling around on deck and causing a hazard in high seas. Shot was 
> stored on the gun or spar decks, in shot racks-longitudinal wooden 
> planks with holes bored into them, known as shot garlands in the Royal

> Navy, into which round shot were inserted for ready use by the gun
crew.
>   4.. Shot was not left exposed to the elements where it could rust. 
> Such rust could lead to the ball not flying true or jamming in the 
> barrel and exploding the gun. Indeed, gunners would attempt to remove 
> as many imperfections as possible from the surfaces of balls.
>   5.. The physics does not stand up to scrutiny. The contraction of 
> both balls and plate over the range of temperatures involved would not

> be particularly large. The effect claimed possibly could be reproduced

> under laboratory conditions with objects engineered to a high 
> precision for this purpose, but it is unlikely it would ever have 
> occurred in real life aboard a warship.
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brass_monkey_%28colloquial_expression%29
> 
> 



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